A happy Haven holiday (Haven Holidays in general)

Member Name: mumto3

Product:	Haven Holidays in general
Date:	15/08/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stuff to entertain the kids whatever the weather

Disadvantages: some parks are run down - accomdation can be tatty and dirty - you pay for a lot of the activities

When I was younger I can remember going to Haven quite a lot and we tried a few different sites over the years. Even as an adult I went away with some friends and we went to Haven as it was fairly local, cheap and we were on our first holiday without our parents. Probably should have gone abroad but I didn't have a passport and due to late decisions about going away I didn't have time to get one.

I am now married with three children under six and when I was searching around for our family holiday I kept coming back to Haven. We usually go to Mablethorpe but the accommodation was getting more and more expensive and all you get it the apartment so I was loathed to pay more for the same as I got last year. My Husband didn't want to go to Haven but eventually we got to a point where everything was getting booked up and we were going to end up having to borrow his Mum's touring caravan. Not that I have anything against touring but they only have a four berth with ridiculously thin bunk beds so we always seem to end up with all five of us in the main double bed which isn't very comfortable!

Once you are at a Haven site you could be at any of their sites as they are all pretty similar. You can stay in a static caravan and they have many different types available. Some sites offer chalets, tents and even hotel accommodation. All the sites offer self catering but some also offer half board.

When you are looking for things to eat on the site there is usually a fish and chip shop and a diner of some sort but I have noticed that they are introducing Pap Johns Pizza, Starbucks and even Chinese restaurants. We found that the food was reasonably priced and fairly tasty. The chip portions from the chip shop were huge though and we ended up throwing a whole portion away because there were just too many. We didn't eat out a lot but we did have Pizza delivered to our caravan one day when it was absolutely pouring with rain which was a real luxury as we can't get anything delivered where we live.

On every site there is a convenience store that stocks all your basic essentials as well as selection of gifts and thing to take home and some holiday things like beach towels and blow up beach balls. The shop was expensive though so I would suggest finding a local supermarket to save you some money. There is a launderette on site and you have to buy tokens from the shop. The washers and driers are huge though so make sure you make the trip worth it or it could become expensive. There is usually somewhere to hire bikes or buggies that you can ride around the site but there is a small charge for this.

There is always a pool on site and normally an indoor and outdoor pool. The pools tend to be filled with slides or other things like that but they are quite shallow at least on one side for babies and toddlers or non swimmers. My children loved the pool and we visited quite a bit. There are often activities like aqua jets or inflatable's in the pool but you have to pay for these. I think it was £5 a session when we went and this also affects the times that the pool is open for free swimming.

There is a small funfair on the site but all the rides have to be paid for using tokens. There is a normal children's play park available and this is about the only thing that is free apart from the swimming. There was a big climbing wall on the site we were at but again this had to be paid for.
One of the things that I found really annoying was that everything on the site has to be accessed through the arcade. I appreciate that this is to make money but it makes what should have been a cheap break into a very expensive holiday. Every ride is about £1 and there are things everywhere beeping and whirring and flashing and the kids just want to do everything.
There is a lot of entertainment put on for the children and there are three types of children's clubs for different age groups. There are a group of characters who are often around for the children to meet and greet and get to know. We went to a children's pantomime most evenings that featured all of the characters and our children enjoyed this very much. The pantomime finished at 7pm so once we had finished our drinks and made our way back to the caravan everyone was nice and tired and ready for bed.
Most of the sites do have beach access although ours didn't it was just a short walk across a busy road and through a sand dune. We didn't go across here as it was almost impossible to get our buggy across without dragging it along behind you.

The thing that I have found that is pretty consistent with all the Haven sites it that they all seem to be a little run down and in need of a face lift. The caravan we had was supposed to be a superior plus but it was shabby looking and could have done with a really good clean. The carpets were stained and the mattresses didn't fit the beds properly, even the TV wasn't tuned in properly but we couldn't fix it because there wasn't a remote control. The fire worked when it felt like it and was totally unpredictable, I spent two nights sat watching TV wrapped in a quilt because it was so cold.
If you have young children you will find something to do at Haven no matter what the weather is like. There is plenty of free stuff including ball pits and swimming but anything that they show in the adverts usually has to be paid for.

I enjoyed my break to Haven and even my husband admitted that he'd had a good time so I think we would definitely go again but maybe try a different park. I believe they have started a major facelift of some of the sites but I don't suppose this would include the accommodation.

You can pay as little or as much as you want for accomodation at Haven so there really is something to suit every budget and they often have deals during school holidays and half term.

If you've never been give it a try it's not as bad as you might think as long as you get a caravan that isn't too close to the main entertainment area.

Summary: A great family holiday